Wonder Woman #20Review

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Wonder Woman meets another recent movie star.

By Dan Phillips

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Gail Simone kicks off her third arc on Wonder Woman by once again focusing heavily on the until now unseen powers of Diana's lasso of truth, which is fine, really, considering some of the most powerful scenes from her first arc included some very inventive depictions of how the lasso works from a logistical standpoint. Simone's desire to prove that Wonder Woman's lasso is one of the most powerful weapons in the DCU goes hand in hand with her mission to reaffirm Diana's standing as a legitimate equal to Batman and Superman, so I'm more than willing to dive into one of these exploratory scenes.

There's a great moment in this issue where Diana learns the consequences of using her weapon on someone with no soul, one that once again visually demonstrates how the lasso works. But even this interesting tidbit doesn't make up for a disturbing trend that first reared its head in DC Universe Zero and again pops up in this issue – Simone's apparent attempt to make Diana more interesting by incorporating famous historical and mythological characters into her series.

Following the appearance of obvious stand-ins for the Spartans from Frank Miller's 300 (and I understand they're based on historical figures, but no one can tell me these characters would appear in a Wonder Woman book if not for the popularity of the 300 movie), Simone features Beowulf in this issue. Yes, that Beowulf. Now I realize that Wonder Woman has been linked to mythology of all sorts ever since George Perez tied her to the Greek Gods following the first Crisis, but the appearance of the main characters from two different recent blockbusters just seems too convenient and downright silly for my tastes. For the good of Wonder Woman, I sincerely hope that Simone's plans for revitalizing Diana reach deeper than merely incorporating the protagonists from popular historical/period action epics. Who will be next to show up in this book, William Wallace? How about Aragon? God I hope not.

Other than this confounding cameo and Simone's failure to establish a link between the issue's two separate timelines (is Diana imagining all of this while in the grips of the lasso?), Simone does a good job of advancing Diana's story by revealing the bespectacled villain who confronted Etta Candy in Diana's apartment from a few issues back and giving her new responsibilities in the Department of Metahuman Affairs. I'm not the biggest fan of Wonder Woman's new day job (Clark Kent's secret identity is hard enough to swallow, and his job isn't to hunt Superman!), but Simone at least provides an interesting Diana/Sarge Steel dynamic and a great Diana/Nemesis relationship, so I'm willing to go along for the ride for the time being, at least.

Artist Aaron Lopresti continues the clean, serviceable artwork on Wonder Woman he debuted in the previously mentioned DC Universe Zero, and it's good to see a capable artist take over the rains of this series indefinitely. All that said, I still can't quite get over this whole Beowulf and 300 ordeal, and I really hope this isn't a new trend.